We Live on a Planet Called Earth
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: We live on a planet called Earth, and, unfortunately for me, Earth is full of people. People who bring to the table things such as judgment, cruelty, hatred, bigotry. People who are only here to make life miserable, people who were put on this Earth, this big blue planet, to bully and harass and belittle other people. And for guys like me, that really sucks.


_**I don't own the Breakfast Club. Thank you for reading this story.**_

_**Written for the 'If You Dare Challenge' by Slytherin Cat, using prompt # 789, different means different. **_

….

_When we were younger, didn't we always used to think that _this _would be it? People told us our generation would finally be the generation that got it all together. Finally, the problems of the world would be solved, finally we'd be able to figure out how to make things better? We'd raise our children in a world without hate, and we'd be able to go around with unlocked doors and never have to worry about wars. My grandfather always told me I was so lucky to have been born when I was, because at least I didn't need to worry about having my buddies die in the trenches next to me, bombs flying overhead. My dad always told me I was lucky, because computers are a thing now, and aren't I so lucky? _

_When I was six, in 1973, I started school at Shermer Elementary-the one everyone attended, because Shermer's tiny and unimportant in the grand scheme of things-my mom walked me to the bus stop with my Batman lunchbox and my nicest shirt, hair groomed. My sister, who was only a few months old at the time, cried out to me, as I stepped onto the first step. I didn't look back at her, didn't wave at my mom when I found my seat (fourth row, side A). The next day, Mom didn't even see me off, choosing to stay inside and clean the house. My dad was always gone by the time I got up for school, and he usually didn't come back until I was in bed. This was my life, in a nutshell, from age six up until now, my junior year, and it's the only life I've ever really know, up until now, until today. _

_We live on a planet called Earth, and, unfortunately for me, Earth is full of people. People who bring to the table things such as judgment, cruelty, hatred, bigotry. People who are only here to make life miserable, people who were put on this Earth, this big blue planet, to bully and harass and belittle other people. Trust me, I should know all about stuff like this. I've been bullies before-shoved into trashcans, had my homework stolen, gum spit into my hair. But, I've also been the bully before as well-teasing my sister until she cried, making rude, assumptive judgments about the girls in my class, putting down those that I felt were even below _me. _On Earth, different means different, and we don't much care for those we consider to be different from us. _

_For a while last weekend, I thought I might have reached the last spot on Earth where judgment finally didn't mean a goddamn thing. There were five of us in detention, just the five of us who didn't know a damn thing about each other. I mean, the only other person I recognised was the big jock, Andrew, because he and some of his other wrestling buddies had shoved me into a trashcan the Thursday before detention. I don't think he even recognised me when I came in, just another nerd he'd shoved around. What did it matter if I still remembered him and his laughing smirk as my papers went everywhere? To him, I was just another nerdy kid, and it was his god given right as the athletic guy to put me down. _

_I think Claire and Andrew knew each other, vaguely-maybe they'd dated before-and everyone knows John Bender, local criminal, who set a table on fire in the cafeteria last year. It wasn't a big fire, just this little flicker from his match, but he nearly got expelled. Allison, though? I have no idea where she popped up from. I mean, I suppose she could have gone to school with me my entire life and I never noticed. She didn't exist in my social circle, she wasn't the sort of person I was interested in making friends with, so why would I know her, this moody, possibly insane girl that came to detention out of pure boredom? _

_What happened in that room, for those eight hours, didn't change the world in any particular way. We didn't suddenly break down all the social barriers, or change the way everyone thought in fantastic ways, making people think in new manners, questioning their every choice in life. We were just five kids-two girls and three boys, three seniors and two juniors, all crazy-who'd gone to detention for whatever reason, put in the library together for a while. When I came to school on Monday, nothing had changed, it seemed. Claire the princess was still high on her horse, Andrew still shoved nerds in trashcans, and John still walked around with his matches and his leering glare. Only Allison seemed to remember the time we spent together, taking my hand in the hallway as I walked to second period. _

_I'm not going to lie and say I smiled at her and talked to her, I'm not going to say we became best friends. I let go of her hand, I asked her why she was bothering with me, when no one else was. Allison didn't answer-in case you've never met Allison, or you have but you don't remember her, Allison is very quiet, and I didn't expect her to respond anyway. She only shrugged and we kept walking to class, side by side. I gave her my phone number, which she stuck in her boot, and told her it was nice that at least the two of us were sticking together, like we'd sworn we would on Saturday. At least we were honest, right? At least we were holding onto our promises to never forget our time together, weren't we? She didn't answer, and I left her at the door of her history class, feeling awkward, but not caring that I was certainly going to be late to class. _

_(I'd never been tardy until now.)_

_I haven't actually spoken to any of the others yet, my fellow members of the so-called 'Breakfast Club'. I don't know if I'll ever speak to them again, or if my time with them was just a little moment in our timelines, timelines that only crossed for a moment and now are running on their proper paths, never to touch, or even think of touching, again. Maybe I'm over-thinking it, maybe I was just imagining that our time together was more important than it really was. After all, didn't I used to be someone like Andrew, didn't I used to want to date Claire? Why wouldn't I imagine, just for a moment, that they were my friends? Why wouldn't I assume what we did together would change us forever? Things aren't changing, though, because we're humans, and we're too different to ever be friends. _

_But it's just Allison and I now, sitting in my living room, on the rug. My mom's in the kitchen now, cooking dinner. She was surprised when I brought Allison home, both because she's a girl, and because of Allison's dark hair and leather jacket. I wasn't even sure why she was here, either, but Allison had followed me home, and I didn't really have any reason to send her away. After all, Allison's a pretty decent person, I supposed, if you get past the fact that she's a little weird and always silent. We're going over our homework for physics together-Allison Reynolds is smarter than we've given her credit for, guys. _

_It's been more than forty-eight hours since detention, since I finally confessed what I almost did to myself on Friday. No one else is here, though, no one is here saying it gets better. No one except Allison, the only one who promised she'd never forget me. I…Larry asked why I'd even been talking to her earlier today, and I couldn't give him an answer. I don't know, I just don't know, really. She's weird and she's probably crazy, but she's real. She cares about people and she cares about problems. The others tried to pretend like we were different, but Allison certainly never changed, she just found someone to be with. No, we're not in love or anything like that. We're…..we're two friends who've found each other, finally. _

_We live on a planet called Earth, and, unfortunately for me, Earth is full of people. People who bring to the table things such as judgment, cruelty, hatred, bigotry. People who are only here to make life miserable, people who were put on this Earth, this big blue planet, to bully and harass and belittle other people. And to someone like me, that could really suck. Until Saturday, it did kind of suck. I mean, when's it going to finally get better for guys like me, who aren't on top of the world? I guess I don't know the answer just yet, but at least I've found someone willing to figure it out with me. _


End file.
